Folding hand rail and walkway

ABSTRACT

An integrated hand rail structure which is foldable from a user engagement upright position into a flat transport position on mobile industrial equipment. The hand rail is supported on a walkway structure, including an extensible section having rail and post which are pivotally attached thereto. Selective release and locking pin assemblies provide for hand rail locking in upright user position and releasable for a folding flat transport position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Technical Field

This device relates to hand rails that fold when not in use to provide safety, support and access for user walkways associated with mobile industrial equipment.

2. Description of Prior Art

Prior art devices of this type provide for a variety of upstanding hand rails, typically on staircases that collapse when not in use. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,401,918, 4,006,564 and 4,014,486.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,401,918 claims a foldable hand rail for telescopically extending rails pivoted to remove support posts on a stair.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,564 is directed to a foldable hand rail and seating structure affording rail folding on a bleacher-like seating structure that can be opened or collapsed when not in use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An extensible access walkway for mobile industrial equipment with transportation height limits, having multiple folding rail and post sections. Each rail and post section have multiple pivot post release and locking assemblies allowing for segmented folding from the walkway. A walkway portion is slidably disposed over another walkway for cantilever extension and retraction, allowing access to a service structure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the folding hand rail walkway assembly on a mobile dust collector.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the walkway and hand rail independently.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an extending walkway and hand rail portion independently.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view on lines 4-4 of FIG. 2 of the drawings.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged side elevational view of a walkway support wheel and beam assembly.

FIG. 6 is a front elevational view thereof.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the walkway and hand rail in folded transport position.

FIG. 8 is a top plan view of the walkway and hand rail of the invention in folded position.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged perspective view of the post and pivot locking assembly in folded position.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged perspective view of the post and pivot locking assembly in upright locked post use position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a walkway folding hand rail assembly 10 of the invention can be seen positioned on industrial mobile continuous dust collector equipment 11 for dry bulk solids. An integrated transportation trailer 12 provides a mobile support platform 13 with wheel and axle assemblies 14. A trailer hitch assembly 15 is provided with oppositely disposed deployable trailer frame stabilizer 16, all which are well-known within the art.

In this example chose for illustration, the continuous dust collection equipment 11 is mounted to and integral with the transportation trailer 12. The walkway and folding hand rail assembly 10 is mounted above the dust collector equipment having a walkway 17 and multiple railing and support beams 18 with an access stair assembly 19 extending from one end thereof.

A pair of vertically extensible hose support gantries 20A, 20B from which dust product transfer hose slings (not shown) extend for equipment access support required, such as in a rail tank car configuration (not shown).

The dust collection equipment 11 has a fixed inlet hose connection and piping assembly 21, again well-known within the dust collection art.

The walkway and hand rail assembly 10 has a main section 22 from which an overlying extending walkway and rail section 23 is movably positioned and deployed, as best seen in FIGS. 2,3 and 4 of the drawings.

The main section 22 has a pair of spaced parallel support beams 24A, 24B with interconnecting walking floor panels 25 secured thereto, and hand rail section 22A.

Multiple wheel and bearing support assemblies 26 are mounted in a longitudinally space relation on the support frame beams 24A, 24B.

A secondary walkway and hand rail section 27 extends at right angles from the end of the main section 22 forming a L-shaped walkway configuration, best seen in FIGS. 2 and 4 of the drawings.

The movable walkway and hand rail assembly section 23, best seen in FIG. 3 of the drawings, has a pair of space parallel support channel beams 28A, 28B, on which is secured a continuous rectangular walkway floor panel 29. A corresponding pair of folding hand rail assemblies 30A, 30B are pivotally secured to the top edge of the support beam channels 28A, 28B.

The extending deployable walkway hand rail section 23 support channel beams are therefore registerably positioned on the corresponding wheel and bearing assemblies 26, as seen in FIGS. 2 and 5 of the drawings, providing movable orientation thereto. It will be noted that each of the support channels 28A, 28B has a wheel stop 31 at its respective end limiting through a predetermined sliding cantilever deployment from over the main section 22, indicated by broken line deployment arrows in FIGS. 2 and 4 of the drawings.

It will be seen that each of the respective hand rail assemblies have multiple pivot pin lock assemblies 32 corresponding to the hand rail post 33 of the sections in vertical upright use position. Accordingly, the pivot pin lock assemblies 32, best seen in FIGS. 9 and 10 of the drawings, have a pair of spaced aperture lugs 34 with a pivot pin 35 extending therethrough an aligned aperture in the respective post ends 33 and the support lugs 34 defining a pivot configuration therebetween. A L-shaped locking pin 36 is slidably positioned in a sleeve 37 on each post and aligned with for registration a pin retainment sleeve 38 on the respective walkway support beams.

A similar aperture lug pivot pin post locking assembly 39 is mounted on the outside surface of the respective parallel space support beams 24A, 24B of the walkway sections 22, 27, in the same manner each allowing the respective pivoted hand rail post assemblies to fold “pivot” flat, as seen graphically in FIGS. 7 and 8 of the drawings. It is important to note that the hand rail folding sequence requires that the movable walkway section 23 first be retracted back over the main section 22 before beginning the folding sequence. The hand rail assemblies are folded sequentially outward as indicated by fold directional dotted arrows A in FIG. 2 of the drawings.

Next the movable section 23 hand rails positions are indicated by B when folded. The main walkway section 22 now defines a low profile folded flat hand rail profile, as seen in FIGS. 7 and 8 of the drawings. It will thus be evident from the above description that as noted, the respective support gantries will have been retracted in to transport position as indicated by broken lines and arrows.

Referring back to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the set of access stairs 19 can be seen having fixed oppositely disposed hand rails 40 with a pair of upper hand rail extensions 42A, 42B being foldable.

Each of the hand rail sections 41A, 41B have a respective pivot pin and locking L-shaped pin assemblies allowing for respective oppositely disposed rail sections to be released and pivoted downward as indicated by the broken arrows into transport position, thereby maintaining the low profile height of the mobile continuous dust collector equipment 11 on its mobile support and transport platform 13 configuration with the hose support gantries shown in retracted position in broken lines.

The multiple hand rail assemblies of the multiple sections are indicated in collapsed folded position in FIG. 8 of the drawings within containment areas 43 and 44 thus providing an overall low profile configuration for the transport of the mobile dust collector equipment 11, defined by its mobile support platform 13 on its transportation trailer 12, as herein and before described.

It will thus be seen that a new and novel walkway and folding hand rail assembly 10 for mobile equipment applications has been illustrated and described. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention. Therefore, 

I claim:
 1. A walkway folding handrail system for mobile continuous dust collector equipment comprising, first and second walkway sections mounted above said dust collector equipment, a movable walkway section overlapping and extending from said second walkway section, folding handrail assemblies pivotally secured to said first, second and movable walkway sections.
 2. The walkway and folding handrail system for mobile continuous dust collector equipment set forth in claim 1 wherein said second walkway section extends at right angles from said first walkway sections forming an L-shaped walkway configuration.
 3. The walkway and folding handrail system for mobile continuous dust collector equipment set forth in claim 1 wherein said secondary walkway section has parallel support beams, walking floor panels extending between said beams and a pair of wheel and beam assemblies fixed within said respective support beams.
 4. The walkway and folding handrail system for mobile continuous dust collector equipment set forth in claim 1 wherein said movable walkway section has oppositely disposed parallel support beam channels slidably disposed on said secondary walkway section.
 5. A walkway and folding handrail system for mobile continuous dust collector equipment set forth in claim 1 wherein said folding handrail assemblies comprise, pairs of upstanding handrail assemblies pivotally secured to respective walkway support sections along their respective spaced parallel support beams on said walkways.
 6. The walkway and folding handrail system for mobile continuous dust collector equipment set forth in claim 1 wherein said mobile continuous dust collector equipment comprises, a fixed material inlet hose, hose support gantries for equipment access support and an integrated transportation trailer with a support equipment platform thereon.
 7. The walking and folding handrail system for mobile continuous dust collector set forth in claim 1 wherein an access stair extends from said free end of said first walking section.
 8. The walking and folding handrail system set forth in claim 5 wherein said pairs of folding handrail assemblies extend in oppositely disposed relation to one another and outwardly from said walking support beams when said folding flat therefrom.
 9. The walking and folding handrail system set forth in claim 5 wherein said pairs of pivoted handrail assemblies overlie one another when in folded flat position.
 10. The walking and folding handrail system set forth in claim 5 wherein said pairs of handrail assemblies pivotally secure to respective support section parallel spaced support beams further comprise, pivot pin lock assemblies registerable in aligned pin retainment sleeves on said respective walkway support beams. 